How to Make a Burlap Banner with HTV
Welcome to Day 4 of my 12 Days of Cricut Christmas Crafting. Today’s post is about how to make a burlap banner with HTV.
Burlap is a great utility fabric woven typically from either jute or hemp. It is generally inexpensive. Typically it is used for sacks for things like potatoes or coffee. However, it is also popular in home decor and crafting.
The nice thing about burlap is that it is environmentally friendly – it’s sustainable and 100% biodegradable.
I love the rustic look of burlap. Burlap is available in various forms at my local dollar store – including sheets, ribbon and tape. Burlap can also be found in various colours and sometimes even patterns, at a fabric store. Personally, I prefer burlap from the fabric store as I find the weave to be denser, and therefore easier to cut and easier to work with.
Burlap also comes in a variety of colours and patterns. Look at all this pretty burlap I found at the fabric store. You can see how tight the weave is.
Laminated burlap has a polyethylene laminate attached to one side. This helps make the burlap more stable and prevents fraying – which can be an issue with burlap, especially with a looser weave. I found rolls of laminated burlap at Michaels. It was easy to cut, but the problem I had with this was that since it was rolled up, it was hard to keep flat – despite ironing it. It kept rolling back up. I tried to stabilize with cardstock in behind which helped a bit, but still didn’t make it sit flat.
Previously, I’ve made paper banners. These are great as you have access to all different kinds of cardstock and scrapbook paper. Check out the paper banner I made for my son’s birthday party.
You can convey any sort of message on a banner. I love making banners as I can customize them to whatever event or person.
Since burlap is a fabric, I find the biggest difference is that I can use heat transfer vinyl (HTV) for making the letters. Looking for basics or tips on using HTV? Be sure to check out the post, All About HTV.
How to Make a Burlap Banner with HTV
Banners come in a variety of shapes and sizes. I tend to make mine around 5×7.
To help get you started, I have a Cricut Design Space file with various banner shapes. You can get this shareable file from my free Resource Library.
In this file, you will see that I’ve made each shape a different colour. Simply copy and paste the shape you want to use, the number of times that you need and then get your Cricut to cut.
Although I use my Cricut Maker to cut out my banner shapes, they can also be easily cut by hand with a good pair of sewing scissors.
Once cut, you will notice that the banner pieces are quite delicate – threads come off the sides easily. To remedy this, I used a spray starch that I use with my crochet items. You can read about the spray starch in this blog post here.
I sprayed the edges with the spray starch. While it is not “perfect”, I actually like having little bits here and there that look like they are fraying, but aren’t because of the spray.
Now on to the fun part. Let’s add the HTV.
You can use any type of HTV to add to your burlap banner. Here’s one with HTV that I made for a baby shower.
How about glitter HTV? Wouldn’t that look great for Valentine’s Day or a birthday party?
You can also use patterned vinyl. I love buffalo plaid and was excited to make this Christmas banner. Earlier today I posted all about Siser Patterned HTV. Cutting patterned vinyl requires is not quite the same as regular HTV. Be sure to check it out.
Be sure to pick a “fat” font in order to show off the pattern. I added some dollar store jingle bells to this banner.
Hanging Your Burlap Banner with HTV
Your burlap banner with HTV can be hung using either twine or ribbon. I found some jute twine in the dollar store that works well.
Here are a couple of ways to hang your banner:
- glue a string or ribbon to the back
- sew a tunnel to feed the string or ribbon through
For this burlap banner with HTV, I simply folded over the top and glued it down with the jute twine inside. I used my glue gun to do this.
If you’re going to add decorative items in between each banner piece, you will have to feed them through as you glue. Remember – once the banner pieces are glued, they can’t be moved, nor can they slide.
Here you’ll see that I have added jingle bells in between each banner piece. Once they’re in there, they’re there for good.
See all the great possibilities of making a burlap banner with HTV? Not only are these great for the holidays, but these would also work for other occasions as well – think baby showers and birthdays and other holidays! I can’t wait to make more.
